Thursday, August 4, 2016

Intro to Microvision

Occasionally I think that people who follow things closely assume that other people are aware of the rest of the conversation. I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this as well, so here's a summary of where we've been so far. Microvision, like ArmHoldings and Nvidia licenses its technology to other companies.

Tiny Laser Projectors, Augmented Reality, 3D Laser Scanning

Laser Projection

Sony & Sharp / FoxconnSo far we know that Microvision is licensing its technology to Sony with an eight year non-exclusive contract, and to Sharp/Foxconn.The technology enables tiny laser projectors. They are small enough they can be embedded in other devices. So far there are stand alone projectors (Sony MPCL1, Celluon PicoPro). PicoP technology, through the Sony module, is also at work in the Qualper phone, which is an excellent view into the future of pico projection with Microvision.The Celluon PicoBit won an innovation award at this years Consumer Electronics Show(CES). It is a projector with onboard Android operating system that fits in a shirt pocket.ALWAYS in focus: One of the enormous benefits of PicoP is that the image is always in focus. The image is basically a single laser dot racing around in a See the little picture at the bottom? That's my phone, a Samsung S4 and the big picture is from a Celluon PicoPro made by Sony, that uses Microvision's PicoP technology. The PicoPro is screen-mirroring the phone.

The Qualper Phone below, uses the same technology. (A brighter room gets a less bright picture - but it's still a lot better for sharing than the small screen on the phone.)

From a Qualper Advertisement

And Microvision's PicoP is in the Robohon

If you follow tech, of course you've seen this video about the Cicret Bracelet.

Augmented Reality

Microvision is a leader in AR displays and AR patents. I've personally checked out the displays that were raved about by others, and found them to be lacking next to Microvision's old AR display. I've compared the ODG AR glasses and Vuzix to Microvision's Nomad -- there's no contest. Microvision has a FAR better display solution. Microvision & Augmented RealityConnections between Microsoft and Microvision

3D Laser Scanning

Microvision can combine a projector with a 3D laser scanner. This will enable scanning for 3d printing, and for interacting in AR applications. More to be seen here!